The steelworkers' Philip Murray could scarcely have been more overbearing. Jubilant over the presidential fact finders' recommendations that steel operators pay their workers up to 10¢ an hour for an insurance and pension program (TIME, Sept. 19), he wired U.S. Steel's austere President Benjamin Fairless: "Promptly and plainly advise me whether your companies are likewise willing to accept the recommendations of the board as a basis [for] settlement."
Up to that moment there had been good reason to hope for an early settlement. The board had denied a wage boost. Steel operators had...